Whether it’s about a potential long-term contract extension or a possible trade if a contract can’t be worked out, the offseason in Chicago has been filled with Jeff Samardzija talk.

However, team president Theo Epstein said yesterday that he’s done talking to the media about what the Cubs plan to do with their Opening Day starter, telling Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune:

We talked about it early in spring training,. We indulged the questions. Right now we’re just focused on the games and just going out and winning. And when I think of Jeff Samardzija, I think I’m happy he’s our Opening Day starter and look forward to a performance like we saw last year from him.

Samardzija then went out and threw seven scoreless innings. He’s also not a free agent until after the 2015 season, so there’s no huge rush for the Cubs to sign him or trade him, but Gonzales and plenty of other Chicago media members seem convinced he’ll be dealt at some point this season.

I’ll be interesting to see if “I’m not talking about Samardzija” will keep the local reporters at bay until July 31.

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the cubs just needs to focus on getting some young strong arms and build the starting rotation witha back end closer. as a cubs fan this team went from being 5 outs away to play in the world series to basiclly being obsolete.

IMHO i was rooting for the cubs to get the GM from the Rays than Theo. it’s unbelievable a small market like the Tampa Bay can find talented young prospect to build that team around, that says a lot of what that GM has done for that Organization. how many more years do we need to wait to be asking for another GM.